Speed King (Men of Action 1)

“I don’t understand. How can those four afford this? It has to be a mistake.”

“Only one way to find out. Let’s ride through, then we’ll think of something.”

She drives down the main road, and I relay the directions from her phone to their address. We hit the back of the neighborhood when their street comes into view. Daylight has turned to dusk, but it’s easy to make out the lone house on the hill that is the only one on this street. My jaw hits the floor at the sight.

“Holy fuck, is that a compound?” Jewls reads my mind.

“It looks like it.” The enormous two-story brick home sprawls out across the end of the cul-de-sac.

“Considering it’s the only house, it’s hard to be conspicuous. How do we get close?”

“Good question.”

We sit quietly, staring until she jumps, twisting to the back seat and tossing a small bag in my lap. “There’s a pair of binoculars in there; grab them.”

I hand them over to her. She scans right to left, chewing on her lip until I get nervous that someone may drive up and catch us creeping.

“We need to go.” She drops the binoculars in my lap and reverses quickly.

“What happened?”

“One of the guys came out the front door and took off for a run. I think it was Talon, but can’t be sure.”

“Hurry.” I panic, hoping like hell he doesn’t see us.

“Calm down. He may be fast, but he can’t outrun my car. Hold on.” She swerves onto a street where a few lots are being cleared, then pulls behind a dumpster and turns off the car.

“Why are you stopping here?”

“Do you want to watch the house for a bit to see if anything happens?”

“Like what?”

“It’s Friday night. Talon, Ford, and Major aren’t working. If any speculation of the Casanova Club is true, then surely we will see something.”

I flatten my hand to my stomach to ease the queasy ripple, my eagerness to spy turning to shame. “I'm not sure this is a good idea. We can’t even see the house, and it’s gotten darker.”

“I think we can see the house if we go through that small patch of bushes.” She waves to a thick brush a little in front of the car.

“We really are stalking, aren’t we?”

“Aren’t you a little bit curious?”

This is a rhetorical question because she knows the answer. My curiosity is the bane of my existence. I chew on my top lip and peer through the windshield to the brush. “Maybe just a peek…” I trail off because she’s already out of her door.

I shove the binoculars and our phones in my hoodie and follow her quietly with the dim streetlights as our only light. When we get to the bushes, we have a clear view of the side of the house closer up. It is much more magnanimous at this angle—

paved circular driveway, stone columns flanking the front patio, and grand double doors with light shining through. The question from earlier reruns on how these guys can afford a place like this.

We mutter a few words about the house but remain mostly quiet. After what seems like forever, with no action, I finally sigh out loud.

“Nothing’s happening. This was a crazy, stupid idea,” I whisper.

“I have to agree. This is boring as fuck,” a male voice rumbles behind us, and I screech, tackling Jewls as if someone is attacking us. She squeals in response, reflexively pushing back until we’re rolling on the ground.

We do this for a few seconds, kicking, bucking, shrieking, and holding each other protectively.

A bright light clicks on, and I am momentarily blinded when a firm hand tugs me to my feet. The flashlight moves to Jewls, whose eyes are wide and face smudged with dirt.

“Talon! You asshole,” she yells, rocking to her knees and hauling herself up. “You scared the shit out of us.”

He laughs a full, deep-in-your-gut roar that has me cringing. It’s bad enough we are busted, but his humor at our predicament is mortifying.

“I couldn’t help it. You two were easy targets. Want to tell me why you’re sitting in the dark outside our house?”

Neither of us answers, but Jewls is eyeing me for a good excuse. Which I can’t think of one because all I want to do is crawl into a ball and disappear. The flashlight comes to me, and I catch the white of Talon’s teeth with his wide smile.

“What about you, Jay? You want to fill me in?”

The first time I met Talon, he took my last name and slapped me with his own nickname. Jay stuck.

“Not particularly.” I dip my head in disgrace.

“How’d you find us?” Jewls tries to take the pressure off me.

“Wasn’t hard. We have the whole place secured. Saw your car on the street and went for a run to check things out. At first, I thought it was nosiness until you pulled by the dumpster and jumped out of the car looking like you do.”